Method, apparatus and system of membership verification

ABSTRACT

Devices, systems and methods of membership verification during handover to a target cell are presented. The target cell triggers membership verification (MV) process during handover, accepting user equipment (UE) as a non-member and upgrading it to a full member, e.g., if the membership verification process is successful.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application is a Continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/569,350, filed Aug. 8, 2012 which claims the benefit of, and priority from, U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/542,086, entitled “Advanced wireless communication system and techniques”, filed Sep. 30, 2011, the entire disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

In 4^(Th) generation (4G) cellular system such as Long Term Evaluation (LTE), the 4G cellular system includes home base stations (e.g., home node-B (HNB)), femtocell and/or a small cell, for example, home evolved node-B (HeNB). The HNB and the HeNB may use mobility signaling via horizontal radio access networks (RAN) interfaces for the support of H(e)NB to H(e)NB mobility for example, Iurh, X2, if desired.

Current LTE systems may use a handover protocol which causes a large number of signaling at the core network, for example, S1, inter-Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) handover (HO), which result in high HO latency and an increased core network load.

The 4G cellular system may use a membership verification process to accept users to HeNB. Membership verification may be performed in the core network (CN) and/or in the radio access network (RAN).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity of presentation. Furthermore, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. The figures are listed below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a cellular system, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a cell, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a handover process of a cellular system, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow-chart illustration of a membership verification process performed by a mobility management entity (MME), in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart illustration of a membership verification process performed by a base station, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an article of manufacture, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of some embodiments. However, it will be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art that some embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, units and/or circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the discussion.

Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing”, “computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “establishing”, “analyzing”, “checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) of a computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or other electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories or other information storage medium that may store instructions to perform operations and/or processes.

The terms “plurality” and “a plurality” as used herein include, for example, “multiple” or “two or more”. For example, “a plurality of items” includes two or more items.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone device, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, vending machines, sell terminals or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, Radio Frequency (RF), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee™, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular system, LTE advance cellular system, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA, HSPA+, 1XRTT, EV-DO, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems and/or networks.

The phrase “wireless device” as used herein includes, for example, a device capable of wireless communication, a communication device capable of wireless communication, a communication station capable of wireless communication, a portable or non-portable device capable of wireless communication, or the like. In some demonstrative embodiments, a wireless device may be or may include a peripheral that is integrated with a computer, or a peripheral that is attached to a computer. In some demonstrative embodiments, the term “wireless device” may optionally include a wireless service.

The term “antenna”, as used herein, may include any suitable configuration, structure and/or arrangement of one or more antenna elements, components, units, assemblies and/or arrays. In some embodiments, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using separate transmit and receive antenna elements. In some embodiments, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using common and/or integrated transmit/receive elements. The antenna may include an antenna covered by a quasi-omni antenna pattern. For example, the antenna may include at least one of a phased array antenna, a single element antenna, a set of switched beam antennas, a dipole antenna, a phase array antenna or the like.

For the purposes of the embodiments of the invention that are described herein below, the following terms and definitions are provided.

A Cell may be a combination of downlink and optionally uplink resources. The linking between the carrier frequency of the downlink resources and the carrier frequency of the uplink resources is indicated in system information transmitted on the downlink resources.

A Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) cell is a cell that is able to broadcast a CSG indicator set to true, and a specific CSG identity. For example, access to such cell may be limited to members of the CSG.

A Hybrid cell is a cell that is able to broadcast a CSG indicator set to false, and a specific CSG identity. This cell is accessible as a CSG cell by user equipments (UE)s which are members of the CSG and as a normal cell by all other UEs.

According to embodiments of the invention, a handover is procedure that is able to change a serving cell of a UE. The handover function may manage the mobility of the radio interface, if desired. The handover is based on radio measurements and is used to maintain the Quality of Service (QoS) requested by the cellular system, e.g., 4^(th) generation or 5^(th) generation cellular system. For example, the handover procedure may contain the function of transferring context data between a source node and a target node. Handover may be directed to/from another system (e.g. LTE to UMTS handover).

According to embodiments of the invention, Membership Verification is a process that checks whether a UE is a member or non-member of a closed or hybrid CSG cell.

Turning first to FIG. 1, a schematic illustration of a cellular system, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the invention is shown. For example, a cellular communication system 100 may include a 4^(th) generation cellular system such as, for example, a WiMAX cellular system, a long term evolution (LTE) or LTE advance cellular system, and the like.

According to some demonstrative embodiments of the invention, cellular system 100 may include, for example, Home eNB (HeNB) 110 and 120, HeNB GW 130, eNB 140 and MME/S-GW 150 and 160. For example, eNB 140 may host the following functions, for example, functions for Radio Resource Management such as, for example, Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink (scheduling). Furthermore, the eNB may host an IP header compression and encryption of user data stream function, a selection of an MME at UE attachment when no routing to an MME may be determined from the information provided by the UE function, a routing of User Plane data towards Serving Gateway function, a scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME) function, a scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M) function, a measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling function, a scheduling and transmission of PWS (which includes ETWS and CMAS) messages (originated from the MME) function, a CSG handling function and a transport level packet marking in the uplink function, although it should be understood that the eNB is not limited to these functions.

According to some demonstrative embodiments of the invention, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 150 or 160 may host at least some of the following functions: Inter CN node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks; Idle mode UE Reachability (including control and execution of paging retransmission); Tracking Area list management (for UE in idle and active mode); MME selection for handovers with MME change; Roaming; Authentication; Bearer management functions including dedicated bearer establishment, and the like.

According to some demonstrative embodiments of the invention, a serving gateway (S-GW) 150 or 160 may host at least some of the following functions, for example, the local Mobility Anchor point for inter-eNB handover; Mobility anchoring for inter-3GPP mobility; E-UTRAN idle mode downlink packet buffering and initiation of network triggered service request procedure; Lawful Interception; Packet routing and forwarding; Transport level packet marking in the uplink and the downlink; Accounting on user and QCI granularity for inter-operator charging; uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) charging per UE, packet data network (PDN), and Quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI).

According to some other demonstrative embodiments of the invention, a PDN Gateway (P-GW) may host at least one of the following functions: a per-user based packet filtering (by e.g. deep packet inspection); a Lawful Interception; a UE IP address allocation; a transport level packet marking in the uplink (UL) and the downlink (DL); an UL and DL service level charging, gating and rate enforcement; and a DL rate enforcement based on APN-AMBR.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a target cell for example, a target HeNB, 110 may trigger membership verification (MV) process during handover, first accepting the UE as a non-member and later upgrading to a full membership if the MV process was successful.

According to this embodiment of the invention, MME 150 or 160 may perform the MV process after the start of the handover. For example, the MME may check an UE subscriber data upon receiving a message, for example, a PATH SWITCH REQUEST message. The MME may determine the UE's membership status according to the message, if desired. The MME may then inform the target cell about the verified membership status of the UE via a procedure. For example, a path switches procedure, a UE context modification procedure or the like.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which schematically illustrates a block diagram of cell 200, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, cell 200 may include any type of wireless communication device capable of communicating content, data, information and/or signals over one or more suitable wireless communication links, for example, a radio channel, a RF channel, according to Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular system, LTE advance cellular system, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA, HSPA+, 1XRTT, EV-DO, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or/and according to any other suitable wireless standard.

In some demonstrative embodiments, cell 200 may include, for example a HeNB, a home base station, a small cellular system cell, or the like.

According to this exemplary embodiment cell 200 may include a handover module 220, a transceiver 230 and antennas 240 and 250. Transceiver 230 may include a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transmitters receivers system (not shown), which may be capable to perform antenna beamforming methods, if desired. Furthermore, in some demonstrative embodiments, transceiver 230 may include a turbo decoder and a turbo encoder (not shown) for encoding and/or decoding data bits into data symbols, if desired. Transceiver 230 may also include OFDM and SC-FDMA modulators and demodulators (not shown). Transceiver 230 is able to transmit OFDM signals over downlinks channels and SC-FDMA signals over the uplink channels via antennas 240 and 250, if desired.

Although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this exemplary embodiment, antennas 240 and 250 may include an antenna array, a dipole antenna, a Yagi antenna, a window antenna, a built in within the user equipment antenna or the like.

According to some exemplary embodiments of the invention, handover module 220 may trigger a membership verification (MV) process during handover from a first cell, e.g., HeNB 110, to a target cell, e.g., HeNB 120 using an X2 protocol, if desired. Cell 200 for example, a wireless communication device, HeNB, HNB or the like, may enable a wireless communication device, e.g. UE, to be accepted as a non-member, to receive a membership verification status, and to be accepted as a member based on the membership verification status, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.

For example, the membership verification process may include sending a message to request the membership verification status, wherein the message may include a path switch request message and receiving a path switch request acknowledge message, which includes closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status. For example, the CSG status may provide either a “non-member” or a “member” status, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which schematically illustrates a flow diagram of a handover process 300 of a cellular system, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention. Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, the cellular system, e.g., LTE and/or LTE advance cellular system, may include a UE 310, a source cell e.g., HeNodeB, a target cell 330, e.g., HeNode, an MME 335, a servicing GW 340 and a PDN GW 345.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the handover process may include three phases: a handover preparation 350, a handover execution 360 and a handover completion 370. After completion of the handover process a tracking area update procedure 380 may be activated.

The handover process may start with handover preparation 350. In handover preparation phase 350 the source cell 320 may request to hand over the UE to the target cell, although it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, that the present invention is not limited to this exemplary embodiment.

For example, handover execution phase 360 may include forwarding UE 310 data and handover information to target cell 330, e.g., HeNB, if desired.

According to this exemplary embodiment, in handover completion phase 370 target cell 330 may send a path switch request to MME 335. MME 335 may send the modify bearer request to serving GW 340. Serving GW 340 may send modify bearer request to PDN GW 345. PDN GW 345 may send modify bearer response to serving GW 340 and serving GW 340 may send the modify bearer response to MME 335 and may further send an end marker to source cell 320, e.g., to indicate on the end of handover process, and, in return, source cell 320 may send an end marker to target cell 330. MME 335 may send a path switch request acknowledgment (Ack) to target cell 330.

For example, the path switch request ack may include CSG membership status. According to some embodiments, the CSG membership status includes a member or/and a non-member status. If the CSG membership status is set to a member then UE 310 is accepted as member of target cell 330, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.

Turning to FIG. 4, a schematic illustration of a flow chart diagram of a membership verification process performed by an MME, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

Although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this exemplary embodiment, a UE may be handed over from a first cell, for example, its source cell, e.g., HeNB, to a second cell, e.g., a target HeNB using the X2 protocol, if desired (text block 410). The UE may be accepted as a non-member at the target cell (text box 420). The MME may receive a membership verification status request message from the target cell (text box 430). For example, the membership verification status request message may include a path switch request message, which may include CSG membership status field.

According to this exemplary embodiment, the MME may verify the membership of the UE. For example, if the CSG membership verification succeeds (diamond 450), then the MME may send a membership verification status request ack with the CSG membership status field that is set to member (text box 460). Otherwise, the MME may send the membership verification status request ack with the CSG membership status field set to a non-member (text box 460), although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this example.

For example, the path switch request ACK may be defined in the LTE Advanced cellular specification as a message sent by the MME to inform the eNB that the path switch has been successfully completed in the evolved packet core (EPC). According to some embodiments of the invention, the path switch request ACK may be used by the MME for MV during handover and/or after handover completion and/or at any MV process, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect. Table 1 below is a non limiting example of the path switch request ACK message with CSG membership verification result field “CSG Membership Status”.

TABLE 1 Path Switch Request Acknowledgment Message IE type and Semantics Assigned IE/Group Name Presence Range reference description Criticality Criticality Message Type M 9.2.1.1 YES reject MME UE S1AP ID M 9.2.3.3 YES ignore eNB UE S1AP ID M 9.2.3.4 YES ignore UE Aggregate Maximum O 9.2.1.20 YES ignore Bit Rate E-RAB To Be Switched 0 . . . 1 YES ignore in Uplink List >E-RABs Switched in 1 to EACH ignore Uplink Item IEs <maxnoof E-RABs> >>E-RAB ID M 9.2.1.2 — >>Transport Layer M 9.2.2.1 — Address >>GTP-TEID M 9.2.2.2 — E-RAB To Be Released O E-RAB List a value for YES ignore List 9.2.1.36 E-RAB ID shall only be present once in E-RAB To Be Switched in Uplink List IE + E-RAB to Be Released List IE Security Context M 9.2.1.26 One pair of YES reject {NCC, NH} is provided Criticality Diagnostics O 9.2.1.21 YES ignore MME UE S1AP ID 2 O 9.2.3.3 This IE YES ignore indicates the MME UE S1AP ID assigned by the MME CSG Membership Status O 9.2.1.73 YES ignore

Furthermore, a non limiting example of CSG membership status is presented in table 2 below.

TABLE 2 CSG membership status Pres- IE type Semantics IE/Group Name ence Range and reference description CSG Membership O ENUMERATED Status (member, not-member)

Turning to FIG. 5, a schematic illustration of a flow chart diagram of a membership verification process performed by a base station, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention. According to some embodiments of the invention, the base station may include an eNB, HeNB or the like.

Although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this exemplary embodiment, a UE may be handed over from a first cell, for example, its source cell, e.g., HeNB, to a second cell e.g., a target HeNB using the X2 protocol, if desired (text block 510). The target HeNB may accept the UE in a non-member status (text box 520). The target HeNB may trigger a membership verification process by sending a message to request a membership verification status from MME. For example, the membership verification status request message may include a path switch request message, which may include CSG membership status field (text box 530).

According to this example embodiment, the target HeNB may receive a path switch request ack message from the MME. The path switch request ack message may include a CSG membership status field (text box 540), although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.

For example, if the CSG membership status field is set to a member (diamond 450), then the target HeNB may accept the UE as a member by changing the UE status to a member (text box 560). Otherwise, the target HeNB may keep the UE connected as a non-member (text box 570), although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this example.

Reference is made to FIG. 6, a schematic illustration of an article of manufacture 600, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments. For example, article 600 may perform the functionality of a base station, a home base station, a cellular cell, a small cellular cell, a femtocell, eNB, NB, HeNB, MME, UE, serving GW, or the like.

Furthermore, article 600 may include a non-transitory computer readable medium 610 containing program instructions 620 of handover communications to a target cell, if desired. The phrase “non-transitory computer-readable medium” is directed to include all computer-readable media, with the sole exception being a transitory propagating signal. The handover may be done for example, by using the X2 handover protocol.

According to some embodiments of the invention, computer readable medium 610 may include a semiconductor memory. The semiconductor memory may include Non-volatile memory, e.g., a FLASH memory, a volatile memory, e.g., RAM, SRAM, a device for storage data, and the like.

Although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, the instructions, when executed, may result in triggering a membership verification (MV) process during handover. For example, the membership verification process may include first accepting user equipment (UE) as a non-member, sending a message to request the membership verification status to the MME, receiving a membership verification status from the MME and accepting the UE as a member according to the membership verification status.

For example, the sent message may include a path switch request message and the received message may include a path switch request acknowledge message which includes closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status. For example, the CSG status may provide a non-member or a member status, although it should be understood that embodiments of the invention are not limited to this example.

According to other embodiments of the invention a wireless communication device and system are disclosed. For example, each of the wireless communication device and system may include, but not limited to, a handover module to perform a membership verification (MV) process after handover from a cell to a target cell according to a membership status received by a path switch request acknowledge message and a transceiver operably coupled to at least two dipole antennas to transmit Single Carrier Frequency Domain Multiple Access (SC_FDMA) modulated radio frequency (RF) signals over the uplink and to receive Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated RF signals over the downlink. The path switch request acknowledges message may include a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status to provide either a non-member or a member status to the UE, if desired.

While certain features have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents may occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of handover of a user equipment (UE) from a source cell to a target cell, the method operating by the target cell, the method comprising: sending a path switch request to a mobility management entity (MME); and receiving from the MME a path switch request acknowledge, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for the UE.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source cell and the target cell comprise a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB).
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the handover is done by using an X2 handover protocol.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member status and a member status.
 5. A cellular system comprising: a Mobility Management Entity (MME) to perform a membership verification (MV) process after handover from a cell to a target cell and to send to the target cell a path switch request acknowledge message, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status.
 6. The cellular systems of claim 5, comprising a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB).
 7. The cellular system of claim 5, wherein the MME is able to perform the handover of a user equipment (UE) to the target cell according to the closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status.
 8. The cellular system of claim 5, wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member or a member status.
 9. An article comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions of handover communications to a target cell, the instructions, when executed by the target cell, result in: sending a path switch request to a mobility management entity (MME); and receiving from the MME a path switch request acknowledge, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for the UE.
 10. The article of claim 9, wherein the target cell comprises a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB).
 11. The article of claim 9, wherein the handover is done by using an X2 handover protocol.
 12. The article of claim 9, wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member status and a member status.
 13. A wireless communication system comprising: a cell that includes at least: a handover module to send a path switch request message and to receive from a mobility management entity (MME) a path switch request acknowledge message, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for a user equipment (UE); and a transceiver operably coupled to at least two dipole antennas to transmit Single Carrier Frequency Domain Multiple Access (SC_FDMA) modulated radio frequency (RF) signals over an uplink and to receive Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated RF signals over a downlink.
 14. The wireless communication system of claim 13, wherein the CSG membership status provides either a non-member or a member status.
 15. The wireless communication system of claim 13, wherein the cell comprises a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB).
 16. The wireless communication system of claim 13, wherein the membership verification (MV) process comprises an X2 handover protocol. 